Dyed Bright Here: Dyer's Notes: Polo Ponies and Uptown Girl

I think I've mentioned my favorite colors before. However, on the off chance that I only think I did just let me say that the color at the top of the favorites pile is PURPLE. There are other colors on that pile too. Colors like fuchsia, pink, hot pink, magenta, red, scarlet, crimson, electric blue, turquoise, teal, peacock blue, and aquamarine. Of course, most of those color words are synonyms for pink, red, and turquoise. This is not to say that I don't like other colors. In fact I like most colors. But, if I am making choices purple will almost always be first and followed closely by those other three colors. After that, it's a crap shoot. Suffice it to say, brighter is better for me.

I have used my purple dye in a number of yarns. Most notably in Sophisticated Schoolgirl, Vineyard, and Opening Night. However, one of the most recent additions to my ever increasing base dyes is a color called Burgundy. The first time I used it was when I created Polo Ponies. I gathered together all the colors that reminded me of the various coat colors of horses. Black, brown, chestnut, gold, and burgundy.

"Burgundy?" You ask.

Yes, burgundy. I have always been a fan of bay horses. Bay is that reddish brown coat color that can range from a blood red to almost black. The typical bay falls somewhere in the middle. Red would probably have sufficed but I really wanted to get away from the primary colors for this one. So, burgundy it was. I loved the results I got. The burgundy did in fact sort of hijack this colorway but I like it. I liked it so much that I wanted to use the burgundy all by itself...almost. I can't imagine ever having the restraint required to use just one dye and call it quits. I'm afraid I would have some sort of color-withdrawal and have a seizure. I'm pretty sure I am color-dependent.

So, I decided to put a rich, dark blue with this rich, dark purple. Then, just to shake things up a bit; a splash of gold.

While these two look rather different at first glance, they have the same tonal value (lightness/darkness). And, in the last few pictures you can see how the burgundy is identical. It really pulls them together quite nicely. Last year I made a sweater called "Got Gauge" out of Noro's Silk Garden sock yarn. It was named that because I used three different needle sizes and three different gauges for different parts of the sweater. Because it started out very differently from how it ended I essentially knit up from the middle and down from the middle. To be able to write it up as a for-real pattern will require me to do it again and start from somewhere else. I think I might pair these two up for that...Hmm..

A note on these pictures. The weather has not been cooperating lately so I had to use a flash. As a result, the Uptown Girl appears to have more white than it really does. In reality these two are very close in tonal value. Uptown Girl is only very slightly lighter.